No. 21/24 Rutgers Edged at DePaul 60-58
Jan 24 | Women's Basketball
CHICAGO - Rutgers could not sustain a halftime lead, dropping a 60-58 decision to DePaul at McGrath Arena on Saturday evening. Guard Brittany Ray (Bronx, N.Y.) had a game-high 20 points for the Scarlet Knights (11-6, 3-3). Junior guard Epiphanny Prince (Brooklyn, N.Y.) added 15 points, 11 in the first half.
The Blue Demons (15-5, 3-3) had three players register double-digits, led by 18 points by freshman Keisha Hampton.
After DePaul jumped to an early 4-0 lead, Rutgers failed to get on the board until the 15:40 mark of the first when freshman Khadijah Rushdan (Wilmington, Del.) converted an old-fashioned three-point play. The Scarlet Knights scored six of the next seven points of the game, capped by a lay-in from junior Rashidat Junaid (Chesilhurst, N.J.) to pull ahead 9-5 at the 12:59 mark of the first.
From that point, neither led by more than four points the remainder of the half. After DPU took a 30-26 edge on a pair from the free throw line from Hampton, RU ran off the last five points of the half – all coming from Ray – to take a 31-30 advantage into the locker room.
The see-saw battle continued in the second stanza. RU gained a one-point lead at 35-34 on two from the stripe by Ray early in the half. The Blue Demons would respond by reeling off the game’s next five points, capped by a triple by China Threatt to pull ahead 39-35 with 14:36 remaining.
Back-to-back buckets from senior Heather Zurich (Montvale, N.J.), the last one at the 9:44 mark, pushed RU to a 45-42 lead. DPU answered behind the play of sophomore Felicia Chester, who scored the next six straight under the basket to keep the home team alive.
Rutgers built a 52-48 lead - matching its largest lead – on a baseline jumper by Zurich but the Knights could not keep DePaul from answering. Hampton hit a 12-footer with 5:10 to go to pull DPU to two (52-50) and Deirdre Naughton gave them the lead at 53-52 less than two minutes later.
Prince put back her own miss from the free throw line with 1:06 showing for Rutgers last lead of the game at 54-53. Threatt hit her third trifecta of the game to give DePaul the lead for good with 48 seconds left. The Blue Demons led by as many as five, their largest lead, in the waning seconds before a three by Prince with two seconds left made it a 60-58 final.
Rutgers shot 41.8 percent in the game, including 52 percent in the first half. DePaul hit at a 41.3 percent clip and posted a 50 percent second-half showing.
POSTGAME NOTES
With the loss
*Rutgers has a three-game winning streak snapped.
*The Scarlet Knights fall to 0-2 all-time against DePaul on the road.
*RU falls to 2-5 on the road this season.
For the first time
Rutgers held a 35-29 edge in rebounding, however fell to DePaul 60-58. It’s the first time all season that the Scarlet Knights have dropped a contest when winning the battle of the boards. RU was a perfect 10-0 prior to the loss against the Blue Demons.
Slow start
Rutgers did not record its first field goal until the 15:28 mark of the first half. It was the latest into a game the Scarlet Knights have reached all year without scoring their first bucket.
Ray tallies season-high 20 points
Junior Brittany Ray tallied a season-high 20 points against the Blue Demons. Ray shot 8-of-15 from the field, both season-highs. The guard was just three points shy of her career-high – 23 points against Ole Miss on Dec. 12, 2006.
One streak snapped, one continued
Junior Epiphanny Prince had her streak of scoring 20 or more points in a game snapped at six games. However, the guard continued her double figure scoring streak by tallying 15 points in the loss. Prince has now scored in double figures in 13 consecutive games, a career-best.
Dishing it out
Redshirt freshman Khadijah Rushdan dished out a career-best six assists to go along with her seven points. In her last four games, Rushdan has had two contests with five or more assists. Junior Epiphanny Prince set a season-high with five assists.
Unable to Score
Senior center Kia Vaughn got into early foul trouble and was unable to score in only 12 minutes of action against DePaul. Before failing to score against the Blue Demons, Vaughn’s lowest scoring total in the last two years occurred against George Washington in the NCAA Tournament when the center only tallied three points. Junior Rashidat Junaid stepped in and pulled down a season-best eight rebounds to go along with six points.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach C. Vivian Stringer
On if she thinks losses can prepare her team for the tournament:
“I think we’d like to believe that it helps you get ready for the tournament, but I think we’ve lost enough games that we should be ready for the tournament. We don’t need to lose anymore; we need to win so we know how to win at the end.”
On the state of her team:
“I quite frankly thought we were ready. We just can’t seem to have everyone hitting on the same cylinder at the same time. It makes it difficult. Defensively we know what we need to do. There were a number of occasions where DePaul missed, but we were unable to capitalize on it. I think at times our youth showed up. Sometimes it was because we were youthful in having the ball and sometimes it was because we, even as veterans, we didn’t recognize time situations and how to run a basketball game.”
On DePaul:
“They have size and he’s (Doug Bruno) an excellent coach. They execute. They get good things out of their big people. One thing that this system didn’t have before that they have now is they have fours and fives that can step out and defend and rebound. That makes it difficult on an opponent.”
Brittany Ray
On her big game and getting Kia Vaughn involved:
“I just tried to play hard and my teammates found me. I was open a couple of times and they just found me and I hit the shots. We tried to get Kia (Vaughn) involved. We are still very confident in Kia and we need her to bounce back.”
On what this team needs to change:
“I think we came into this game with a cool, calm head. We came into the game believing we were going to win. It’s unfortunate that we lost, but I don’t think we should change everything. We just have to know how to win the game. I remember when it was 52-48 and we could of capitalized on that (offensive possession), but we didn’t. And then (Deirdre) Naughton came down and hit a three. I think that hurt us a lot. We have to capitalize on our opportunities.”
